IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs Microsoft System Center comparison

IBM and Microsoft are both solutions in the Application Infrastructure category. IBM is ranked #17 with an average rating of 8.0, while Microsoft is ranked #14 with an average rating of 8.5. IBM holds a 2.1% mindshare in AIS, compared to Microsoft’s 1.9% mindshare. Additionally, 84% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

IBM WebSphere Message Broker

Read 13 IBM WebSphere Message Broker reviews

971 Views
340 Comparison Views

84% willing to recommend

Microsoft System Center

Read 20 Microsoft System Center reviews

847 Views
313 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

IBM WebSphere Message Broker

Microsoft System Center

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 5, 2025

IBM WebSphere Message Broker and Microsoft System Center both compete in the enterprise system integration space. IBM WebSphere gains an edge with its advanced features, while Microsoft System Center attracts with its cost efficiency and broad capabilities.

Features: IBM WebSphere Message Broker offers powerful message routing and transformation capabilities, facilitating protocol conversion support, making it ideal for complex enterprise integration tasks. In contrast, Microsoft System Center provides a comprehensive suite of tools for data center and cloud management, excelling in system monitoring, deployment automation, and configuration management.

Room for Improvement: IBM WebSphere could benefit from a simplified user interface, enhanced cloud compatibility, and more streamlined update processes. Microsoft System Center can improve in interoperability with non-Microsoft environments, enhance its mobile device management, and provide deeper analytics insights without third-party tools.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM WebSphere's deployment is complex but supported by robust technical assistance. Microsoft System Center features a more straightforward deployment process, bolstered by extensive community resources, enhancing its attractiveness.

Pricing and ROI: IBM WebSphere presents higher setup costs, justified by its advanced integration features, offering solid ROI for complex environments. Microsoft System Center is more budget-friendly with a faster ROI, particularly appealing to budget-sensitive enterprises.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs. Microsoft System Center Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs. Microsoft System Center

December 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

IBM WebSphere Message Broker

Ranking in Application Infrastructure

17th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) (9th)

Microsoft System Center

Ranking in Application Infrastructure

14th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Monitoring Software (28th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Application Infrastructure category, the mindshare of IBM WebSphere Message Broker is 2.1%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft System Center is 1.9%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Infrastructure Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft System Center	1.9%
IBM WebSphere Message Broker	2.1%
Other	96.0%

Application Infrastructure

Featured Reviews

BrajendraKumar

Technical Architect at HCL Technologies

Offers large-sized business information processing with a time-saving setup and impressive stability

I primarily use two previews of the product for Dev and two for QA as part of the production process. Whatever tools our company is using, the cost of a license in IBM WebSphere Message Broker is about 80% of all these software or tools. The message routing capabilities satisfy workflow efficiency. The product supports message formats of XML, JSON, and SSID, which are around 24 KB to 50 KB in size. The solution supports communication protocols like STTP and TCP. Features like DataGraph need to be introduced in IBM WebSphere Message Broker. Some of the clients of our organization are using an outdated version of IBM WebSphere Message Broker for which the vendor doesn't provide direct support anymore. For the aforementioned version, our company professionals can solve the queries on their own without seeking support from IBM. During the installation of a prior version of IBM WebSphere Message Broker, sometimes I have to configure the failovers through the cluster, where issues arise, and I often seek help from the support team. The solution is being used by some medicine companies in our organization that receive sales orders from the EDR or JDE. I would not recommend the product to others as its becoming obsolete and they can rather choose a middleware solution from Amazon or Azure. But I would overall rate the product a nine out of ten.

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Carl Palapal

Sr. Sys. Server & Storage Egineer / Tech .Consultant at CANAR OFFICE SYSTEMS

Provides comprehensive system management with effective deployment and integration capabilities

The advantages of Microsoft System Center are significant, and I have seen other products as well. As far as advantages are concerned, they have PXE deployment, which is good for deploying operating systems, such as Windows client systems including Windows 10 and Windows 11. Since it is a Microsoft product, all the patches are proprietary, making it easier to deploy. In Microsoft System Center, all the features are integrated already, whereas in ManageEngine, you have to license each feature individually to access those features. The automated features of Virtual Machine Manager are very useful; it automates as long as the policy that I have created is in line with the objective, especially the templates when I'm going to deploy. Regarding endpoint management, Microsoft System Center is very helpful; it has integrated endpoint protection deployment, allowing me to handle endpoint configuration, system deployment, and patch deployment, making it an all-in-one stop shop for managing and configuring end clients. The impact of using Microsoft System Center is significant; it gives me a whole picture of my environment, making it easy to get inventory details regarding applications and hardware, providing full visibility of my setup within the organization.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"Integration and mapping are easy, which is a major advantage."

"IBM WebSphere Message Broker is one of the best middleware solutions"

"The transactions and message queuing are the most valuable features of the solution."

"It's reliable for our day-to-day operations, ensuring fast and secure data integration across different systems."

"The most valuable feature of IBM WebSphere Message Broker is the ability to facilitate communication with legacy systems, offering a multitude of great capabilities. For example, if there is a mainframe system in place with a web service serving as the front end. In that case, the solution enables efficient protocol transformations to convert all request payloads into a format that the legacy systems can accept, rendering the integration and transformation processes seamless and highly effective."

"The documentation, performance, stability and scalability of the tool are valuable."

"It has many interfaces and you can connect to any backend source that has another format, and convert it to the desired format."

"Message Broker is valuable because most of the applications are using MQ. Even in my current engagement, the few applications which I audit to onboard the bank are using MQ."

More IBM WebSphere Message Broker pros

"The availability performance matrix and the reporting capabilities are the solution's most valuable features."

"I like the automated features of it that let you schedule those updates and the ability of the product to focus on the specific updates, specific platforms, and products that we're interested in keeping up to date."

"The solution is easily available. That's its most valuable aspect."

"The deployment and asset management features are the most valuable. These are the product's main features."

"System Center helps to create the basis for ITIL alignment."

"The tool has many valuable features, including license tracking, software deployment, and installation deployment. However, we primarily use it for Windows updates and deployment for Windows servers and desktops. It's a complex product but very well-managed. If you use all the features, they will be valuable to your organization. It allows you to deploy desktops, manage patches, and track various features."

"It can generate KPIs and management reports with monthly presentations on activities and updating the environment (success and failure)."

"We like Microsoft System Center's Operations Manager. That is primarily why we use it."

More Microsoft System Center pros

Cons

"Today I probably wouldn't go for Message Broker because of the cost structure, support, and the whole ecosystem around IBM."

"The solution can add container engines such as docker."

"It is currently a weighty product."

"There is some lag in the GUI. There have been some performance issues and maybe it's because of the application data."

"As our business requirements evolve, we require more dynamic capabilities to adapt and scale our services accordingly."

"The user interface is designed mainly for experts, much in the way a BPM or another integration tool is."

"I know that Message Broker was a very tightly copied product with another IBM product, that is, IBM MQ. I would like to have a little bit more decoupling from the IBM MQ because it should not be a prerequisite for IBM WebSphere Message Broker usage."

"Stability and pricing are areas with shortcomings that need improvement."

More IBM WebSphere Message Broker cons

"Less server consumption would help, as would better, more flexible reports."

"We have some bugs but it's stable. It doesn't break every day. It works. Like other applications, it has a lot of bugs but they're manageable."

"The solution’s pricing could be improved."

"Most of the documentation is online, however, there are some gaps there. The product documentation still refers back to the 2012 Server. We're pretty much in 2022. There's a ten-year gap there."

"For me, the tool's UI seems to be too old."

"Could be more user friendly."

"The solution's dashboard needs improvement."

"Implementation and integration in the case of multi-tenant environments needs improvement."

More Microsoft System Center cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"IBM software can be costly, but having a contract has helped manage and potentially lower costs over time."

"The price is very high and it's the main reason that we are searching for alternatives."

"This product is more expensive than competing products."

"The solution is expensive."

"The licensing cost of IBM WebSphere Message Broker needs to be reduced"

"The solution is expensive."

"IBM products are generally more stable and have more features, but also come at a greater cost."

"I feel with IBM, when you want certain functions or features, you have to continuously purchase add-ons. There are always additional fees."

"We maximized our license investment."

"Microsoft System Center's licensing is costly."

"I know that sometimes there is some reduction in the prices of Microsoft System Center because of the costs of Microsoft SQL Server, which can be advantageous."

"Microsoft System Center is quite expensive."

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a six out of ten."

"It's rolled into our enterprise subscription. The entire subscription is around $25,000 a year, however, that covers all the products that we use."

"I rate the product price as five to six on a scale of one to ten, where one means it is cheap and ten means it is expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

22%

Computer Software Company

11%

Insurance Company

Transportation Company

Comms Service Provider

11%

Transportation Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Large Enterprise	10

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	10

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM WebSphere Message Broker?

IBM software can be costly, but having a contract has helped manage and potentially lower costs over time.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM WebSphere Message Broker?

There could be greater flexibility and agility in service creation for the product. As our business requirements evolve, we require more dynamic capabilities to adapt and scale our services accordi...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for IBM WebSphere Message Broker?

We use the product for exposing services at the application level, integrating with various architectures like WebSphere, and handling static service creation.

See all answers

What do you like most about Microsoft System Center?

The product's initial setup phase was easy.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft System Center?

Microsoft System Center's licensing is costly.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft System Center?

The disadvantage of Microsoft System Center is related to the many integrated services; if one service is failing, then all features will be affected. For example, with site configuration, when one...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 10% of the time

IBM BPM vs IBM WebSphere Message Broker

Compared 7% of the time

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Compared 19% of the time

Veeam Data Platform vs Microsoft System Center

Compared 13% of the time

IBM BPM vs Microsoft System Center

Compared 12% of the time

JBoss Enterprise Application Platform vs Microsoft System Center

Compared 12% of the time

LogicMonitor vs Microsoft System Center

Compared 9% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM WebSphere Message Broker

January 2026

Download IBM WebSphere Message Broker product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft System Center

January 2026

Download Microsoft System Center product report

Also Known As

WebSphere Message Broker

MS System Center

Overview

WebSphere Message Broker is an enterprise service bus (ESB) providing connectivity and universal data transformation for service-oriented architecture (SOA) and non-SOA environments. It allows businesses of any size to eliminate point-to-point connections and batch processing regardless of platform, protocol or data format.

IBM

System Center helps customers realize the benefits of the Microsoft Cloud Platform by delivering unified management. Experience fast time-to-value with out-of-the-box monitoring, provisioning, configuration, automation, protection and self-service.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

WestJet, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, Sharp Corporation, Michelin Tire

Kassen_rztliche Vereinigung Nordrhein, Magyar Telekom Nyrt., Adeka, QualCare, Aeriandi, UniCredit Bank d.d., Mostar, Allianz Australia Ltd., Grupo Familia

Buyer's Guide

IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs. Microsoft System Center

December 2025

Free Report: IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs. Microsoft System Center

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